Bulldog Williams edges closer to return

[bornadog]

Ben Collins (http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/138357/default.aspx)

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa198/mmsalih/williamspain246.jpg

INJURY-PRONE Western Bulldogs defender Tom Williams is closing in on a long-awaited return after training strongly at Whitten Oval on Tuesday.

Williams was placed on the Bulldogs' long-term injury list after undergoing yet another shoulder reconstruction in early March.

The 25-year-old has benefited from a tortuous running program, which has included a lot of gut-busting work over 400m.

In a heartening sight for Bulldogs fans, Williams moved freely at training on Tuesday and at one stage felt so confident in his reconstructed shoulder that he slid to mark a low ball.

With injuries restricting him to just 73 AFL games in seven seasons, Williams seems certain to make his return via the club's VFL affiliate Williamstown.

"He's going all right," said Bulldogs captain Matthew Boyd when asked about Williams.

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"I'm not sure how far away he is but he trained strongly today and he's been doing a hell of a lot of work to get his injuries right.

"He's a very resilient guy. He's had a rough trot and I think he's one of the most operated-on players in the comp. But he's got a really strong mindset and I'm sure he won’t be too far away."

The Bulldogs were shaken by a 92-point loss to Sydney at the SCG in round nine, but they will go into Sunday's twilight fixture against Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium fresh after having a bye, which Boyd admitted could be a good or bad thing.

"We would have liked to have got straight back out and played again after a pretty disappointing weekend for us against Sydney," he said. "But it gives guys a great chance to freshen up and get bodies right.

"We reviewed the game and have gone through the areas (we needed to) and then got out of the place for a couple of days, and that was probably a good thing as well."

Despite the magnitude of the loss, Boyd said the players had been through a 'typical' game review.

"You can't get too carried away with big wins and big losses, and (coach) Brendan (McCartney) has been fantastic in the consistent message he's put across," he said.

He was bemused by talk of Sunday's game being a must-win contest.

"People say if we can't win this we can't play finals, but we're not even looking at finals at this stage. I mean, we've had four wins in 10 weeks," he said.

The clash will be a memorial for club legend Charlie Sutton, who died last week.

"We all loved Charlie. And we all loved what he did for this footy club, and the person he was around the place," Boyd said.

"Whether it changes the way you play, I don’t know. It shouldn’t really change the way you play. We just want to play really competitive and a consistent brand of footy.

"We obviously want to make Charlie proud with the way we play, but we want to do that every week as well. Hopefully we can honour him with a win."

[Remi Moses]

Nice to get injury prone back .
If ever a bloke deserved a break, It's Tom.

[GVGjr]

I have heard he would like to be tried as a forward.

[azabob]

I have heard he would like to be tried as a forward.

Does he have the "smarts" to play as a forward?

[LostDoggy]

I have heard he would like to be tried as a forward.
I'm not sure it can work.
What I've seen of his kicking for goal it's no better than Jones or Roughead.

[bulldogsman]

I have heard he would like to be tried as a forward.

Didn't we try this last year?

[Rocco Jones]

Nice to get injury prone back .
If ever a bloke deserved a break, It's Tom.

not the greatest choice of words...:)

[GVGjr]

Does he have the "smarts" to play as a forward?

I'm not endorsing that suggestion just confirming what I have heard. I think the thought process was if Markovic and Austin can continue to support Lake them Williams saw a spot in the forward line.

My preference is to keep him as a defender but maybe B-Mac might be open to that suggestion.

[Eastdog]

Good to hear Tom Williams trained well today and his progress is going well.

[FrediKanoute]

Nice to get injury prone back .
If ever a bloke deserved a break, It's Tom.

Last thing Tom needs is a break......

Reckon we should just dub him Tom "Sick Note" Williams

[Remi Moses]

Last thing Tom needs is a break......

Reckon we should just dub him Tom "Sick Note" Williams

Lucky Break? That's the only ailment he hasn't injured.

[Dazza]

This would be the year to trial him as a forward if we were ever going to do it.

He certainly has the right tools to be a forward. Not sure about his footy smarts though but I guess he'd have learnt a bit playing on opposition talls. At the very least he'd apply good defensive pressure.

[Hotdog60]

I could see some merit in the idea. Tommy is sometimes slow to react when a forward makes a move and quite a few times when the best forwards have gone on the lead and Tommy is still standing on the spot.

At least if he is forward he gets to make the play and his opponent has to worry about him. It wouldn't hurt at this stage to say to Tommy, you've got your chance I'll give you a month to prove you can do it.

[Ghost Dog]

I could see some merit in the idea. Tommy is sometimes slow to react when a forward makes a move and quite a few times when the best forwards have gone on the lead and Tommy is still standing on the spot.

At least if he is forward he gets to make the play and his opponent has to worry about him. It wouldn't hurt at this stage to say to Tommy, you've got your chance I'll give you a month to prove you can do it.

Might cause some headaches for opposition coaches with Cordy, Williams and Jones in the forward line. I think each one has the run to keep the pressure on too. Jones is nimble, on the lead. Cordy as your pack specialist. Tommy to be the new Mitch Hahn aka Queensland Bullock.

[ledge]

I have heard he would like to be tried as a forward.

I heard he put it Macca as an option, not sure what Maccas reply was.
I think its a good idea, he can definitly take a good grab.

[Desipura]

Nice to get injury prone back .
If ever a bloke deserved a break, It's Tom.
Do you want to re-word this? :D
Sorruy, just realised others have commented.

[LostDoggy]

Might cause some headaches for opposition coaches with Cordy, Williams and Jones in the forward line. I think each one has the run to keep the pressure on too. Jones is nimble, on the lead. Cordy as your pack specialist. Tommy to be the new Mitch Hahn aka Queensland Bullock.

Maybe if one of them could kick.
ATM even with Williams its still the worst forward line in the comp.

[LostDoggy]

I'm not endorsing that suggestion just confirming what I have heard. I think the thought process was if Markovic and Austin can continue to support Lake them Williams saw a spot in the forward line.

My preference is to keep him as a defender but maybe B-Mac might be open to that suggestion.

Worth a try. If it doesn't work, we've lost nothing.


Maybe if one of them could kick.
ATM even with Williams its still the worst forward line in the comp.

What's your alternative? How would you fix it this year?

[DragzLS1]

Dont know why nobody has mentioned having Williams back in the back line, and throw Lake up forward :)

Then our forward line starts to look more damaging

[azabob]

Dont know why nobody has mentioned having Williams back in the back line, and throw Lake up forward :)

Then our forward line starts to look more damaging

Lake would do more damage down forward than good! Lake is our best backman who can defend and create. No way would I move him.

Did Geelong supporters ask for Scarlett to be moved forward when they didn't have a key forward? I wouldn't have thought so.

[LostDoggy]

What's your alternative? How would you fix it this year?

You can't fix it this year. We need time for Jones and Cordy.
Playing 3/4 inexperienced or talls with little forward experience isn't going cause headaches to the opposition,more they'd be rubbing their hands.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Williams really only seems to manage a handful of good games a year as a defender, so I can see merit in him being pushed up the ground.

He's got a decent pair of hands and he's obviously pretty mobile. Supposedly his endurance is good, but for mine, he tends to look tired when playing on lead-up forwards.

I think as a defender he struggles to find the balance between reading the play/flight of the ball and drawing body contact. He's often out of position because he's mis-read the situation, and this has not improved from game one.

Personally, I would support a move to the forward half.

[Maddog37]

I would love to at least see it given a good try. Was it Aker that mentioned Tom had played forward in training drills/games and done well.......

[Greystache]

I'd prefer to see Williams played down back for as many games as possible this year in the view to trying to get his trade currency up as much as possible. I think it's time to move on from the Williams project, his best form is mediocre, and we've rarely seen his best form. If we could get something of value for him at the trade table I'd be all over it, an exchange of picks in our favour would be enough.

[LostDoggy]

Another wasted top 10 draft pick, the list continues to grow...

[Bulldog Joe]

I'd prefer to see Williams played down back for as many games as possible this year in the view to trying to get his trade currency up as much as possible. I think it's time to move on from the Williams project, his best form is mediocre, and we've rarely seen his best form. If we could get something of value for him at the trade table I'd be all over it, an exchange of picks in our favour would be enough.

I think you are unduly harsh.
He has played on Cloke many times when we play Collingwood and has strongly contributed to Cloke not being a factor against us. His game against Carlton last year was top class.

[Greystache]

I think you are unduly harsh.
He has played on Cloke many times when we play Collingwood and has strongly contributed to Cloke not being a factor against us. His game against Carlton last year was top class.

The fact that after 8 years and 80 odd games we can only point out a couple of games where he's done a solid job doesn't speak highly of the return on investment we have. and continue to put into Williams. People get far too carried away with his game against Carlton last year, he was very good in the first half against Waite, but it should be noted Waite was subbed out at halftime due to struggling with a hip injury and didn't play again that year.

My hope is other clubs might remember that he did a decent job against Cloke in the wet once, or on a half fit Waite, and offer us above market value on a trade for Williams. Realistically, his market rate would be a token late pick in the draft, but we may be able to get a 3rd round pick that could be on traded for a player in that 23-26 year old bracket that could fill a need.

For me the facts are he turns 27 next year, his improvement is likely to be slow if any at that age, and given the number of injuries he's had it's unlikely he'll play past 30. If we're going to make the call it needs to be made at the end of this season.

[jeemak]

Greystache, agree our return on ivestment has been ordinary, though I think he's more valuable to us than a late draft pick.

Austin and Marko are yet to convince me they're better prospects than he is, and the latter is hardly proving himself to be dependable this year.

His body is a concern of course, on a positive note if he can avoid impact unjuries he might be able to continue past 30 as his body hasn't experienced too much wear and tear.

[Bulldog Joe]

Greystache, agree our return on ivestment has been ordinary, though I think he's more valuable to us than a late draft pick.

Austin and Marko are yet to convince me they're better prospects than he is, and the latter is hardly proving himself to be dependable this year.

His body is a concern of course, on a positive note if he can avoid impact unjuries he might be able to continue past 30 as his body hasn't experienced too much wear and tear.

Agree with your assessment Jeemak.

Williams with time in the system and now experience offers more than Austin or Markovic.
He obviously needs a bit to go right bodywise, but I would not be looking to off load when he is also in that age group we are short on.

[Remi Moses]

I'd prefer to see Williams played down back for as many games as possible this year in the view to trying to get his trade currency up as much as possible. I think it's time to move on from the Williams project, his best form is mediocre, and we've rarely seen his best form. If we could get something of value for him at the trade table I'd be all over it, an exchange of picks in our favour would be enough.

Way over the top. Don't think he's been top 10, that's obvious.
But he hasn't had a good run at it either.
Besides wouldn't think clubs will give up decent picks for a guy wit 80 games in 8 years.

[bornadog]

Tom Williams is officially off the Long Term Injury List. Austin remains in the seniors via the mid season rookie rule.